JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — “Be quiet. Put your hands wherever they can see them. No sudden acts of movement,” Bernard Thomas III said. “Be respectful. Yes sir, no sir. Yes ma’am, no ma’am.”
That is what Thomas said he learned early on for interacting with police.
As a young African American man in Jacksonville, he said he wanted to take his experiences and use them to promote change in the community. He helped form the EVAC movement with Amy Donofrio.
“This is a new conversation for some parents, but for African American parents this is a conversation that has always had to be had and at a young age,” Donofrio said.
EVAC is a youth-based movement. It’s youth leading youth in a conversation about injustices they might have experienced or observed in their community. Many said they have lost loved ones to violence or incarceration, or they have been the victim of police brutality.
As demonstrators continue to stand up for black victims, Thomas said he wants their voices to be heard and understood.
“Get an understanding of how we feel,” Thomas said. “We also put ourselves in the shoes of the officers but also that pain and certain scars are deeply rooted in us since childhood, some of us since birth, and that’s not something that just goes away.”
EVAC has hosted meetings where youth can express their concerns. They have met with Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams, and traveled to the White House to meet President Barack Obama.
More recently, some of their members were published by Harvard University, including Thomas.
More can be found here: EVACmovement.com